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Bob Dole back at Walter Reed

Bob Dole, the 87-year-old former U.S. senator from Kansas, is back in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he spent much of 2010.

Former Kansas senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole was released from Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday after several days in the hospital.

Dole spent most of 2010 in the Walter Reed hospital.

"We don't have any reason to believe it's anything serious," said Heather Anderson, communications directorfor the Dole Institute of Politics at The University of Kansas.

She said the staff was notified Thursday that the Russell native had been admitted late Tuesday to the military facility in Washington, D.C.

Anderson said she didn't have any details on Dole's condition. A spokesman in Dole's Washington office wasn't available for comment Friday morning.

Sources told the Washington Post that Dole, 87, went back to Walter Reed for a "minor tune-up" after having left the facility in mid-November.

After undergoing knee surgery in February, Dole contracted pneumonia three times while at Walter Reed and ended up staying at the hospital about 10 months.

Dole, who historically has been among former politicians and others who greet new members of Congress, wasn't with his wife, Elizabeth, when she was on Capitol Hill this week with Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, according to the Washington Post.

Dole was severely wounded in World War II. His injuries left him without the use of his right arm. He has always expressed great gratitude to friends and family members in Russell for helping with his recovery and for supporting his law school education, then entry into Republican politics.

He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1960, then to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He gained national prominence as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, President Gerald Ford chose him for his vice presidential running mate.

Dole was elected Senate majority leader in 1984, then resigned from the Senate in 1996 to pursue his campaign for president.